How to track citations in Perplexity and Google AI Overviews
Updated November 1, 2026
Short answer: Ask Perplexity and Google the questions your buyers ask and record the source links each answer shows. Note whether any point to your site and which sites appear instead. Repeat weekly, by hand or with a tracker, and make sure AI crawlers can actually reach your pages.
Why citations matter
Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode show their sources. A citation is a link to your page inside the answer: it sends visits and tells you which of your pages AI trusts. Being cited and being named are different. You can be named because other sites mention you, without your own site being cited.
Check citations by hand
- Ask each buyer question in Perplexity and in Google (look for the AI Overview at the top, and try AI Mode).
- Open the sources list and copy every link.
- Mark the links that point to your domain, and note the page.
- For the others, note the site and the kind of page: list post, review site, forum, documentation.
Check one question on 4 engines at once
The free AI visibility check lists the sources each engine cited for your question and marks the ones on your domain. It covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode.
Make sure AI crawlers can read your pages
An engine cannot cite a page its crawler cannot fetch. Check that your robots.txt allows search crawlers such as PerplexityBot, OAI-SearchBot and Googlebot, and that your firewall or CDN does not block them. The free AI crawler checker tests both.
Win more citations
- Publish a page that answers the question in its first paragraph, in plain words.
- Keep facts (prices, features, limits) on your own pages current: AI quotes them.
- Get listed on the pages AI already cites for your questions.
- Track the same questions every week to see which changes worked.